Melancholic dance music seems to be an oxymoron, but for those familiar with the indie scene and the recent surge of mopey fast-tempo heroes, it's mega-hip. Minus the Bear can be fairly categorized as a leading purveyor of the genre --walking the line between boozy disillusion and high-voltage rhythmic energy.
The Seattle quintet played the Ottobar this past Sunday to a decently sized crowd of the usual post-emo hipsters. Over a relatively short 50-minute set, they propelled through stop-starts, explosive solos, tastefully varied rhythmic textures and singer Jake Snider's subtle and dynamic vocal performances.
Snider, formerly of the post-rock project Sharks Keep Moving, sings in a style that helps define what drummer Erin Tate calls "The Minus the Bear vibe." The delivery is decidedly low-key -- a confident, almost undersung presence usually just at the verge of being enveloped by the supporting instrumentals.
Snider sounds like a man who is no longer impressed with the beautifully delicate scenes that appear in his songs. In a lesser band, his style could be abysmally boring, even depressing, but with the virtuosic instrumental arrangements and performances of his band-mates, Snider sounds transcendant, meditative, and elegantly disengaged. Snider leaves enough room in his songs for bursts of top-range vocal wailing to allow for a true movement of energy or emotional emphasis, which he used to crowd-engaging success.
While swigging from a bottle of Jameson on stage, Snider appeared to be almost a romantic hero, narrating his songs about drunken weekends at lakes, awakening in a cold sweat in the desert or pleading for intimacy in a foreign land.
He distills experiences into cinematic intensity congruous with emo's new American romanticism. For that reason, Snider is subject to all of the criticisms typically associated with that genre -- melodrama, convoluted lyrics and upper-middle class egocentrism.
This isn't to say that Minus the Bear is just another emo band. The innovative chops of the other members are instrumental to the "Minus the Bear vibe." Drummer Erin Tate and bassist Cory Murchy, both formerly of the hardcore band Kill Sadie, sync effortlessly in a cerebral and explosive rhythm section.
Thanks to their work, people can, and did, dance to Minus the Bear. Given the mathematical and angular nature of the rhythms, this dance turned out to be mostly jumping and flailing, but it was dancing nonetheless.
David Knudson, a metal-core guitarist, contributes a string sound that is virtually unrivaled in the world of emo-tinged indie pop-rock. Using finger tapping and extremely technical and unconventional riffs, he furthers the math-rock motifs of the band and adds the expansiveness of metal sound to the mix.
As a guitarist, Knudson is a pleasure to watch live, fluidly and effortlessly executing challenging parts with two hands on the fretboard, almost like a harpist.
Electronics and synthesizers were handled by Matt Bayles, who had worked with Snider as engineer and mixer for Sharks Keep Moving. The band integrates samples and loops to expand musical ideas and made smooth use of them on stage. With restrained use of keyboard and the electronic effects, the band manages an absolutely huge sound: elegant microsymphonies that challenge without being academic or cloyingly progressive.
Not surprisingly, the technical mastery of the band's instrumentalists never parlays into egoism. Solos are kept to a minimum in favor of a symbiotic fusion of the elements, which creates quite an appealing tapestry. Minus the Bear, a band that can be called a super-group in some circles, is super because they're so group-oriented.
That they straddle sensibilities and genres has earned them praise as well as censure; actually, it's the reason for their almost limitless potential. The band members hail from well-respected independent acts, display uncanny musical ability and know and understand the independent culture. On the other hand, Snider's songwriting and vocal ability coupled with the band's raw energy output makes for a very catchy, upbeat product.
Publications like Pitchfork have panned their past releases for not being enough of any particular thing or creating a sound that is completely new and distinctive. But given the explosion of indie rock into the mainstream media in the past few years,
Minus the Bear could surely tap into the booming emo market and create quite a fan base for itself. In fact, according to Tate, the band has been spoken to by every major label at some time in the past and has sold out numerous shows on this current tour.
Luckily for the purists, the band is happy with its label, Suicide Squeeze Records, a Seattle indie operated by a handful of people and artists. But don't be surprised if you see them on TV in the next few years.
